robsblubot

lol at the headlines...

hah! true, pundits would say stats don't lie... After all they make Garreth Barry and Scott Parker look world class. My bad, I don't think it was only completion, but even attempted passes; so Lamps went missing, and that's why he was subbed off.

I agree concerning the season so far, but not the newcastle game. Didn't he have a very low pass completion rate in last game?

fair enough... The team crumbled in the second half though. Look at the number of saves Cech made in he second half. The number of times, our defenders were one-on-one against the opposition (like in David's missed interception). That's a big no no in football. The logic of if we had X instead of Y only works if X's deficiencies are factored in, not only his virtues. Otherwise the player who did not play, when we lose, is always better than the one who did play. That's why you see ppl saying Mikel should've played. When so many things go wrong in a team, some (prob most of the) blame has to be on the manager who picked the players and the strategy. Was a high defense line correct against a team who (historically) thrive in long balls? On a wet pitch like you said? The strategy wasn't David's, but Mourinho's.

^^ No one questioned his ability, just his fitness. Not suffering from those nagging injuries certainly helped. It's too early in the season to call it a victory (over the injuries) though. I disagree with most here concerning him being MOTM material in last game. He did not make any blatant mistake, but he was also not dominant as he could've been (as he has in the past). I think he had a normal JT performance and was one of the few players (more like a couple) who Mourinho called had a "normal" performance. I'd not criticize him too much either because I thought the midfield crumbled in he second half; that's why we had so many one-on-ones in the back.

Well, Brazil has Luiz Gustavo as a dedicated holding mid who can cover David (and the defense including Marcelo) at all times. I read an article of one of our posters here (can't remember his name) on Brazil, and he joked that Gustavo was going crazy trying to cover for Luiz for Brazil; I thought to myself, well that is his job! If Luiz Gustavo did not provide defensive cover than he wouldn't play - Hernandes or another more technically apt player would take his spot. Perhaps our defense is just way too exposed? Lampard went missing (his stats were pretty bad actually) which caused problems to Ramires and the defense. I could go into cover and pressure again (concerning Terry), but already made that point.

completely agree. Though a bit of consistency (from him) now and then wouldn't hurt.

yes the same Lampard who was taken off with over 30min left to play; because he was not the problem... Opinions are like a*... I know, but we need some consistency here. You can't possibly ask people to trust the manager and at the same time say Lampard was not the problem, when he was taken off by that same manager - I assume for a reason since we were losing and he is a midfielder who can score goals.

Certainly. Some folks here seem to have a hard time understanding the very basic concept of pressure and cover. When Gary and JT play, they both cover (hence the backing off). When David plays, he applies pressure at all times, while the other covers; which is IMO a more balanced pairing. In either case, if they get no support they will succumb all the same. Defenders need cover (from the other lines) at all times because good attackers with possession always have the advantage when being faced 1x1. JT also benefits from David's chasing, because he gets the opponent in a less than ideal situation already while the guy applying pressure in the open space is more likely to get dribbled. There is really no choice really unless you are OK playing counter-attacking football forever. Because if you want high defense line with possession you need someone applying pressure and chasing in open space.

yes, agree that he was actually very good in possession, but that play on the second goal is inexcusable for a defender: he is literally paid not to trust that his teammates are going to clear the ball and should have tracked back while Ramires and William slowed the attacker just enough and yet he was there watching and hoping. I personally don't have a problem with the missed tackle, because he tried a quick interception, which means he might have lacked the balance to win it - it was a decision and considering JT was behind him, I reckon teh correct one.

double post

It tells me they have como Cahill on their lineup. They play very weak sides mostly and setup to beat them. I reckon that's what we tried but ncastle we're not as badas we expected them 2 be. Enders game break...

Do you see much rotation being done by any of those sides? I see the same starting XI every time I see Barcelona play for example. Same defenders (if you can call Mascherano one), same fullbacks, some rotation in the midfield for the older players, granted, but that's a about it. I don't completely disagree with your points; my point is that this is one of the most difficult aspects of managing a top team. Juggling a big squad and not having unhappy players who also cannot be counted on.

I know I know, just wondering about focus. We certainly cared more than Arsenal did.

When I talked to a colleague of mine, Arsenal fan, about what happened midweek he said, "good they will get the win on Saturday when it matters." Now I'm wondering whether we did care too much and fielded too many starters (including Ramires) for a pointless cup game. All in all the strategy backfired; we wanted to dominate a struggling newcastle side, but they've been improving lately.

Agreed, but then again, come CL big matches can we really trust Bertrand then? Or will we need an on form Cole for those? I'll go with the latter. Same reasoning I have with the out-of-form David. We will be facing very pacey and technical strikers in the CL and we will need David then, especially if we plan to apply pressure at some time (playing a high line).

Fair enough. There is no point really (of having that big squad) when only XI play. The problem of dropping important/key players because of form is that it becomes more difficult for those players to regain their form later on. Had we not insisted with Lampard last season, he wouldn't have won us the CL spot with sterling performances in the final 7 or so games. Yes, sometimes you gotta drop an underperforming player, so long as the replacement is really the better option, which is something many of us here disagree with (manager does too I guess). The point is that when the big games come in the CL and BPL, you will need the key players to be on form, so it makes very little sense losing them now (by not playing them). That's the juggling (with confidence and fitness) managers have to do. Concerning this match, we attempted to play a very high line today - Cahill is notoriously poor playing high up because he lacks pace. Playing both Cahill and JT in a high defense line would be suicidal. Aside from some laziness in the second goal (pretty bad actually) when he was waiting to see if William and then Ramires would win the ball back (they didn't) he had no other mistake. Terry also made a mistake losing his man and David covered him beautifully which earned him a high five. So, he lost a 50/50 against a guy just as big when trying to anticipate and intercept the ball - big deal. Terry covered him just fine then. Terry is the positioned defender while David chases - not really that unusual really. -- I refuse to discuss player's valuation because that's not really up to personal opinions - the transfer market is really all the evidence one needs.

Well I was referring to what Mourinho himself said, and I thought that was kinda important. You definitely have a point concerning current form. So, I reckon you also think Lampard and Cole should be dropped right now? Just wondering if there is some consistency from you, as it seems there isn't from other posters. ( I don't think Lampard, Cole, or Luiz should be dropped BTW)

He was good on the ball, but missing that sitter prob costed us the game. Had we scored then, we wouldn't need to be so exposed to counters for the remaining of the match. Goals change games and you cannot miss a frontal opportunity without pressure just outside the 6-yard box.

When has it ever happened? With which manager? Because AVB, RDM, Benitez, and now Mourinho clearly prefer Luiz. Here's what happened: Luiz had a poor game, so Mourinho dropped him for a couple of matches. Though as he watches them in training, like every chelsea manager did before, he realizes Luiz is twice the player, so he *wants* to play luiz. He wants, as he stated clearly to the press, Luiz to become more focused because he has the quality/potential to become one of the best defenders in the world (have you even heard someone say that of Cahill?). Phil goes to the Mikel thread and points out - rightfully so - that every freaking manager we've had did not start Mikel and that's for a reason. There is also a reason every freaking manager we've had start Luiz ahead of Cahill - it's really no accident or a personal preference. It's very likely an opinion shared by the coaches at chelsea who stay when managers go. While I agree that Luiz hasn't been playing as well as he has, say last season, he is still the better player and Mourinho is right insisting with him so he can regain his form. He has been doing that with other players too (Lampard and Cole for example). Cole had another terrible game, but here we are discussing David. Lampard was a passenger, but here we are discussing David. Thankfully there is more to football than strikers (when we don't score) and defenders (when we concede), otherwise it would be a very boring game. His passing was awful?! He even assisted Torres a couple of times?!

Ramires and Oscar were really poor but Lampard was absent and thats the worst thing one can say about a midfielder.

Yes that's good enough for some fans.Percentage of nothing would still amount to nothing today. That was set piece cross Lampard was marking the goal scorer and he lost him. Second goal was indeed lazy from luiz though. U really see something in Cahill nobody else does - not even any of our managers.

Like I wrote in the other thread I don't think it's his head - he's just been less quick and less aggressive which happen to be his assets. Agree he doesn't deserve a spot with his current form but he was hardly to blame when the midfield crumbles the way it did in the second half - we got outplayed in all areas of the pitch in the second half. Cahill would not have made a diff.Btw lamps lost his marker for 1st

Luiz hasn't been playing well and don't deserve to be in the starting xi. It's not just concentration he also seems slower and less aggressive. He got no help from William and midfield so not going to blame the last man but last year he'd have moved in front of the attacker since he's got the pace for that. This loss is on Mourinho with his Benitez lineup.

Finishing has been horrible really - we've had enough chances to score and we didn't